1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a blood pressure measuring method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a blood pressure measuring method and apparatus capable of measuring a change in a blood pressure by respiration control.
2. Description of the Related Art
Regular blood pressure measurements may be used to diagnose and treat hypertension and the like.
Most automatic electric blood pressure meters are based on an oscillometry method. The oscillometry method is a scheme for measuring blood pressure based on oscillation generated when an artery is pressurized/depressurized using a cuff. A cuff pressure, when a pulse from a heartbeat has a maximum amplitude, is estimated as an average blood pressure.
For a subject having hypertension, a method for decreasing blood pressure is also important. A method that is generally used to decrease blood pressure includes medication, dietary treatment, exercise, and the like. It is also known that a method of inducing a decrease in blood pressure through respiration control is effective and does not cause side effects. Accordingly, a device for decreasing blood pressure through respiration exercise has been utilized. A sensor strip, which senses a strain on a person's abdomen, is used to measure respiration by sensing movement of the sensor strip. In addition, a number of respirations may be measured based on air-flow exiting the person's mouth, using a non-contact microphone.
Conventionally, a scheme for measuring blood pressure and a scheme for measuring respiration are performed by separate measuring devices. Therefore, although blood pressure is decreased by adjusting respiration, the current blood pressure measuring method does not consider applying the scheme for measuring respiration. A cuff-type blood pressure meter operates by pressurizing a cuff once and depressurizing the cuff and thus, may have difficulty in continuously measuring blood pressure during respiration. Therefore, to measure effectiveness of an exercise in decreasing blood pressure, different devices, such as a blood pressure meter, a respiration measuring device, and the like, are used, which may be inconvenient for a subject. The subject may not directly compare an initial blood pressure measurement result and a blood pressure measurement result after respiration control and thus, may not directly recognize the effectiveness associated with a change in blood pressure through the respiration control. Accordingly, the subject has difficulty in determining a degree of a change in blood pressure occurring in the body a predetermined time after the respiration exercise begins.